QP Wednesday: The price of standing up, instead of standing up for, veterans

After some back and forth on the day’s bombshell of the Liberal Senate caucus being retroactively de-Liberalized (go to QP liveblog) question period unfolded as the last place on earth Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino wanted to be.

Next time a minister decides at the last minute to cancel a meeting with Canadian veterans, they’d better be prepared to face the fire.

Fantino apologized for standing up a group of veterans again in question period Wednesday, but that didn’t stop opposition MPs from calling for his resignation.

Both NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said the minister’s actions were inappropriate. Fantino must resign, they insisted.

Mulcair took it one step further, demanding the prime minister apologize to veterans. In response, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the minister himself had already apologized. Fantino, he added, would not be resigning.

Wednesday’s kerfuffle comes after a scheduled meeting between the minister and a delegation of veterans was abruptly cancelled on Tuesday evening. The group eventually met with senior Conservatives, including MP Laurie Hawn and the minister’s chief of staff, to discuss the closure of eight veterans affairs offices.

The sudden cancellation infuriated veterans, who later told reporters they felt disrespected.

At the last moment, after veterans threatened to hold a press conference, Fatino met with the group in a basement office on Parliament Hill. The minister reinforced his earlier message that the centres would close on schedule. Veterans, unhappy with his response, held the press conference anyway.

Early Wednesday afternoon, Fantino apologized for his tardiness in a statement, blaming a cabinet meeting that ran long.

At least one veteran in the group has called for the minister to be fired because of the way the meeting was handled.

The Liberals and NDP are siding with the veterans, if Wednesday’s Question Period is any indication, as politician after politician stood up during Question Period to criticize the minister.

Longtime NDP veterans advocate Peter Stoffer called it “the lowest of the lows.”

“At least the minister didn’t fall asleep like the member from Calgary West,” he snarked referring to a past meeting when Conservative MP Rob Anders was caught sleeping during a committee meeting.

Liberal MP Joyce Murray, meanwhile, called the incident “insulting” referring to it as another example of “disgraceful Conservative negligence.”

In the hot seat, Fantino said he had contacted the veterans personally to say he was sorry.

The minister was barraged with cries of “resign” “sit down” and “shame” from opposition members as he attempted to answer another question about his portfolio.

The Conservatives repeatedly said their party continues to stand with the veterans.